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This article is on the race of outsiders known as "kytons." For details on the specific type of kyton traditionally given that name, see evangelist.

Kytons, known among themselves as velstracs, are a race of cruel, amoral beings from the Plane of Shadow obsessed with sadomasochism and self-perfection. They thrive on the fear and pain of mortals, which they inflict with both supernatural dread and physical torture. Though often mistaken for devils by mortals, kytons hold themselves above the tyrants of Hell; they do not seek to corrupt or enslave mortals, but instead to "help" them attain a higher state of being, reshaping the flesh and soul with a fanatic's zeal.[1]

Contents

Name

These creatures call themselves velstracs. Kyton, an exonym exclusively used by mortals, spread when the kyton demagogueKaikyton wandered the Material Plane, and her onomatopoeic name became associated with her followers by early mortals. The velstracs decided that the name kyton was flattering and most do not bother to correct mortals when this word is used, except the phylacators.[2][3]

History

The first kytons coalesced from the selfish and depraved thoughts of the earliest mortals. These creatures were so hideous that the gods themselves chained them in the pit of Hell. The kytons escaped their prison, however, and sought to sate their hunger for suffering by claiming mortal souls for their own sick pleasure. The kytons now wear their chains proudly as symbols of their defiance against the gods.[1]

When Asmodeus led his army of exiles from Heaven to Hell, the kyton demagogues, asura ranas, and gigas warlords gathered in council, intent on uniting their armies against the devils, only to be betrayed by one of their own: the asura rana Geryon, who devoured 812 tyrants of Hell. The elder kyton demagogue Aroggus led the kytons in their exile from Hell to the Shadow Plane, which they adopted as their new home. Since then, many kytons have came back to Hell, and they continue to maintain a presence there.[4][5]

Ecology

Spiritual beings, kytons are formed from the souls of mortals—torture victims, masochists who killed themselves seeking pleasure, and sacrifices to the kytons, and other powers of suffering—stolen from the normal judgments of the afterlife through obscure rituals and drawn to the Shadow Plane. The kytons take these souls, warping and torturing them for years, until they are transfigured into new kytons. A soul's first act as a kyton must be to cut off a portion of its own flesh, beginning its self-guided evolution. Over the centuries of its immortal existence, a kyton mutilates itself and grafts new flesh onto its body over and over, metamorphosing into ever stronger and less human forms. The various "species" of kyton are simply different stages in the kytons' evolution.[1]

Kytons feed on pain, entering a state of arousal simply by witnessing the destruction of flesh.[6] They ruthlessly hunt mortals, either to convert their souls into new kytons or to cut up their bodies for new grafts.[1]

Some kytons have engaged in unholy couplings with their mortal victims—this is rumored to be the origin of the evangelist kytons.[7] The tieflings known as the kyton-spawn are more distant descendants of such pairings.[8]

Habitat and society

Kytons consider themselves above good and evil. They engage in their search for the perfect sensation with the passion of scientist-artistes, and consider no cost too high for the secrets of the ultimate being.[2]

Kytons inhabit the Shadow Plane, whence they fled after escaping Hell.[9] The nine kyton demagogues are the demigod rulers of the kyton race; each one is the master of a vast domain on the Shadow Plane, ruling from cities built from still-living flesh.[1] Beneath the demagogues is the Covenant of Overlords, a loose network of powerful eremite kytons that alternately work together to accomplish their ends or squabble for the demagogues' attention.[10] Many kytons work for Zon-Kuthon, god of darkness, pain, and suffering, and live in his domain Xovaikain.[11][9]

Unlike many lawfuloutsiders, kytons have no monolithic hierarchy; the most regimented kytons are usually Zon-Kuthon's servants. Many independent kyton cabals function like workshops of artists or artisans. They prefer to focus on personal endeavours and rarely gather in huge numbers for conquest. Many kytons seek to follow the paths of those known to have had some brush with the sublime.[2]

Despite their history of imprisonment in Hell and conflict with the exiles from Heaven, the kytons have established an embassy in Dis, the Broken Chains, and are an important ally of the devils.[9][12] Many kytons have settled back in Hell, where they flourish,[13] lying outside the hierarchy set by Asmodeus.[7] Some have become mercenaries and serve powerful devils, such as Mammon.[14]

On Golarion

Owing to their association with the Midnight Lord, the faithful of Zon-Kuthon regard kytons as sacred to their religion.[15]

Kytons are rumored to be employed as torturers by the cult of the Living God in Razmiran, and their lusts may have given rise to a small colony of kyton-spawn.[8]

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